Home Power Magazine - Betting the Farm - Wind Electricity Pays Off, elektronika, elektronika, INWERTERY
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
the Farm
Wind Electricity
Pays Off
Mike Fischer
©2003 Mike Fischer
34
home power 96
/ august & september 2003
Betting
wind
intertie
In spring 2001, June and Charlie Nichols met with
Brooks Solar to discuss putting up some solar-electric panels
on their property. What ended up happening just might be
the best retirement present anyone could get.
Anne and Randy Brooks of Brooks Solar, Inc. in central
Washington state have a systematic approach to helping others
tread lightly on the earth, based on cost effectiveness. When
dealing with a prospective client, they first recommend
conservation, followed by an efficient, south-facing, passive
solar home design. Next they recommend using solar hot
water, since water heating accounts for the equivalent of about
20 percent of electrical consumption. For electricity production,
they recommend a microhydro system as the first choice if you
have falling water, then exploration of your wind-electric
potential, and consideration of solar electricity last because,
comparatively, it’s the least cost effective of the options.
Going through this process got June and Charlie to
thinking about when a large stack of hay bales was blown
down their ridge, even though it was tied down with barbed
wire, tarps, and old tires. They also remembered the time
some pasture seeds blew a half mile to a neighbor’s property.
They became intrigued by wind power. Charlie was already
predisposed to wind—in the 1940s, his family used a windmill
to run a pump to get water to their 300 head of cattle.
Then the greatest selling point of all unfolded. The local
utility’s renewable energy incentive program, Sustainable
Natural Alternative Power (SNAP), will pay producers in
Chelan County up to US$1.50 per kilowatt-hour.
After a few calculations, Randy told June and Charlie
that through the SNAP program, they could pay off their
system within three to five years. After monitoring the
progress of SNAP contributions, the Nichols made their
decision in January 2002. They chose a grid-connected, 10
KW, Bergey Excel turbine, with a 21 foot (6.4 m) rotor
diameter, on a 100 foot (30 m) guyed lattice tower.
June and Charlie Nichols chose wind as the power generating
resource for their ranch in Washington.
Site Evaluation
The proposed turbine location had no trees to check for
wind flagging. Older wind resource maps indicated that the
exposed ridge experienced class 4 winds (13.4–14.5 mph;
6.0–6.5 m/s average) and newer maps indicated class 3
winds (12.3–13.4 mph; 5.5–6.0 m/s average). But both are
mathematical extrapolations that might not define the site’s
actual microclimate. June and Charlie decided to forgo
potentially sophisticated (expensive) wind measurements
and follow their gut by putting up the Excel.
Laying out and bolting together the ten, 10 foot tower sections.
www.
homepower
.com
35
wind
intertie
it with sand and caution tape before backfilling the hole.
Conduit with ground wire running outside it will be
Randy’s preferred method next time. Three, #2 (33 mm
2
)
transmission wires and a #8 (8 mm
2
) copper ground wire
were run 924 feet (281 m) from the tower base to the inverter.
Rolling out the guy wires.
Weather & Logistics
Only one paved road leads to the Nichols ranch, and a
spring thaw load restriction was in place that delayed the
project and required a special permit for passing over the
road with the concrete truck and semi that would deliver the
turbine and tower.
After the weather settled down, the turbine and tower
were delivered, but the blades and inverter were missing. A
few weeks later, a second set of pultruded fiberglass blades
were air freighted from the Bergey
factory in Oklahoma and the inverter
arrived shortly after from the Trace
factory in California. The original
blades are still missing. Only one year
after June Nichols approached Brooks
Solar, and after three months of instal-
lation preparation and delays, the
tower and turbine were set to go up.
Portable power runs tools on the site.
Later, after the trench to the power
shed had been dug, Randy noticed that
there was no topsoil on the ridge at the
turbine site, but several feet of topsoil
down by the shed. Also, the wild-
flowers and sage on the southeast
sides of the hills in this high desert
area were robust, while there was
stunted vegetation on the ridge at the
turbine site. All these subtle indica-
tions, combined with Charlie Nichols’
experience in this country, pointed to
the likelihood of consistent winds on
the ridge.
Installation Crew
Randy Brooks, who traveled to
Norman, Oklahoma before the
installation to be trained as a Bergey
installer, led the crew. This is first and
foremost why the installation and
grid-intertie went so well. You know
how some people have their ducks in a
Pre-Installation
Preparation
June and Charlie contracted out
with a neighbor to dig the trench and
the holes for the guy wire anchors with
a backhoe. Randy later dug the slots
for the sloping anchor rods by hand to
reduce disturbance of the soil on the
tower side of each anchor hole. After
fighting with the rocky soil, Randy
concluded that he’d have a backhoe do
this next time. The three anchors were
located so that two shared the load of
the prevailing winds on this fixed
tower. As recommended by the
manufacturer, a 50 foot (15 m) guy
radius was used.
It was thought that direct burial
electrical wire would be best to use.
But after doing it, Randy decided that
it was not worth the extra labor to fill
in the rocky sections of the trench with
sand, and then lay the wire and cover
The crane holds the weight while the Bergey Excel is bolted to the tower top.
36
home power 96
/ august & september 2003
wind
intertie
Volunteers included Lance Moore, an electrician from
Whidbey Island who wanted to gain some RE experience;
Ed Kennell, part of the energy program at Washington State
University’s Cooperative Extension, and whose knowledge
and equipment from two and a half decades in the wind
industry were indispensable; and me, another SEI
intern/graduate, there for documentation and experience.
Installation
On Monday, April 29, 2002, the crew and volunteers
headed up into the high desert of Malaga, Washington to the
ranch. After setting up camp, Randy oriented us by showing
Muscling the Bergey’s tail into position.
Mounting the blades using an impact wrench.
row? Well Randy knows what temperature the ducks like
the water, and you can rest assured that the pond will be just
that. He is an asset to the industry!
Rose Woofenden, and her dad Ian, came over from
western Washington to help. Rose was born in a wind and
solar-electric powered house, and Ian works for
Home Power
and coordinates workshops for Solar Energy International
(SEI). Kelly Keilwitz of Whidbey Sun & Wind, also a Bergey
dealer, traveled over the mountains with the Woofendens to
help. Bill Hoffer, an energy efficiency and renewable energy
consultant who often collaborates with Brooks Solar was on
hand as well.
Randy Brooks and the owners were willing to allow the
installation to be a demonstration project. Northwest
Sustainable Energy for Economic Development (NW SEED)
invited a group of individuals to monitor the installation.
The group included a solar equipment distributor in Oregon
interested in getting into the wind industry, a business
development director for a general contractor from central
Washington, and an SEI graduate and Bergey certified
dealer from Spokane, among others. All fees the NW SEED
participants paid were used to offset the cost of the
installation. In return, June had an endless flow of coffee,
snacks, and sandwiches for all.
Overcurrent protection at the tower’s base.
the first cut of a Bergey installation video, and mentioned
updates both to it and the installation manual.
On Tuesday morning, we woke to the loud squawking of
guinea hens. We headed up the wildflower littered hill to
the turbine location. It was a gusty day on the ridge, which
was both encouraging and a bit worrisome. No one wanted
to work in high winds the next day when the crane would
show up.
After the NW SEED folks arrived, Randy had an
orientation and safety briefing, and also explained the
SNAP program. Our first task was to assemble the ten, 10
foot (3 m), 250 pound (113 kg) tower sections. We found it
best to rest the tower sections on pieces of 4 by 4s to keep
dirt out of the holes. The ground was sloped and wavy, so
www.
homepower
.com
37
wind
intertie
tail 70 degrees, taking the turbine out of the wind. The tail
has a shock absorbing system that prevents the tail from
snapping back into position after releasing the winch, to
prevent unnecessary wear and tear on the machine.
Down in the shed, Lance was wiring the inverter and
replacing the #8 (8 mm
2
) ground wire from the service
disconnect to ground rods with #6 (13 mm
2
) to comply with
code. Lance also used wire pulling lubricant to snake the #2
(33 mm
2
) wires from the system disconnect to the inverter.
This stuff is messy, but easy to clean up and worth its weight
in gold. A lot of sweat and many a smashed knuckle has
been saved by this goop.
By the end of the day, the tower was ready and
everything was in place for the crane to come in—
everything except the tail, that is. Charlie’s granddaughter
was painting his cattle brand on it.
Crane Day
Fortunately, the sun was shining and the winds had died
down for the tower raising. Lance finished all the wiring for
the inverter and second disconnect, located down by the
shed. Duncan Crane Service out of Moses Lake showed up
right on time, and everything was ready. The crane was
positioned between two anchors on the uphill, prevailing
wind side of the tower.
Going up.
Ready to raise.
we had to wiggle the sections and use drift pins to get all the
holes to line up to connect the sections.
After assembling the tower and torquing the bolts to 150
foot-pounds each, we ran the transmission wires through
the tower, and tied them to a tower leg with zip ties. As the
wires were run through the tower, the equalizer plates were
being attached to the anchor rods. The equalizer plates help
evenly distribute the load from the guy wires to the anchor
rods. Then the guy wires were laid out from the tower, a pair
running to each anchor rod set at 50 feet and 90 feet (15 and
27 m) on the tower.
After all the wires were run, the junction and disconnect
box was attached at the base of the tower, as was a Delta
LA603 lightning arrestor and the furling winch. Bergey
installed plates at a comfortable height on the bottom tower
section to attach the winch and junction box. The furling
winch allows someone at the base of the tower to move the
Snagged
on the crane.
38
home power 96
/ august & september 2003
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl chiara76.opx.pl
the Farm
Wind Electricity
Pays Off
Mike Fischer
©2003 Mike Fischer
34
home power 96
/ august & september 2003
Betting
wind
intertie
In spring 2001, June and Charlie Nichols met with
Brooks Solar to discuss putting up some solar-electric panels
on their property. What ended up happening just might be
the best retirement present anyone could get.
Anne and Randy Brooks of Brooks Solar, Inc. in central
Washington state have a systematic approach to helping others
tread lightly on the earth, based on cost effectiveness. When
dealing with a prospective client, they first recommend
conservation, followed by an efficient, south-facing, passive
solar home design. Next they recommend using solar hot
water, since water heating accounts for the equivalent of about
20 percent of electrical consumption. For electricity production,
they recommend a microhydro system as the first choice if you
have falling water, then exploration of your wind-electric
potential, and consideration of solar electricity last because,
comparatively, it’s the least cost effective of the options.
Going through this process got June and Charlie to
thinking about when a large stack of hay bales was blown
down their ridge, even though it was tied down with barbed
wire, tarps, and old tires. They also remembered the time
some pasture seeds blew a half mile to a neighbor’s property.
They became intrigued by wind power. Charlie was already
predisposed to wind—in the 1940s, his family used a windmill
to run a pump to get water to their 300 head of cattle.
Then the greatest selling point of all unfolded. The local
utility’s renewable energy incentive program, Sustainable
Natural Alternative Power (SNAP), will pay producers in
Chelan County up to US$1.50 per kilowatt-hour.
After a few calculations, Randy told June and Charlie
that through the SNAP program, they could pay off their
system within three to five years. After monitoring the
progress of SNAP contributions, the Nichols made their
decision in January 2002. They chose a grid-connected, 10
KW, Bergey Excel turbine, with a 21 foot (6.4 m) rotor
diameter, on a 100 foot (30 m) guyed lattice tower.
June and Charlie Nichols chose wind as the power generating
resource for their ranch in Washington.
Site Evaluation
The proposed turbine location had no trees to check for
wind flagging. Older wind resource maps indicated that the
exposed ridge experienced class 4 winds (13.4–14.5 mph;
6.0–6.5 m/s average) and newer maps indicated class 3
winds (12.3–13.4 mph; 5.5–6.0 m/s average). But both are
mathematical extrapolations that might not define the site’s
actual microclimate. June and Charlie decided to forgo
potentially sophisticated (expensive) wind measurements
and follow their gut by putting up the Excel.
Laying out and bolting together the ten, 10 foot tower sections.
www.
homepower
.com
35
wind
intertie
it with sand and caution tape before backfilling the hole.
Conduit with ground wire running outside it will be
Randy’s preferred method next time. Three, #2 (33 mm
2
)
transmission wires and a #8 (8 mm
2
) copper ground wire
were run 924 feet (281 m) from the tower base to the inverter.
Rolling out the guy wires.
Weather & Logistics
Only one paved road leads to the Nichols ranch, and a
spring thaw load restriction was in place that delayed the
project and required a special permit for passing over the
road with the concrete truck and semi that would deliver the
turbine and tower.
After the weather settled down, the turbine and tower
were delivered, but the blades and inverter were missing. A
few weeks later, a second set of pultruded fiberglass blades
were air freighted from the Bergey
factory in Oklahoma and the inverter
arrived shortly after from the Trace
factory in California. The original
blades are still missing. Only one year
after June Nichols approached Brooks
Solar, and after three months of instal-
lation preparation and delays, the
tower and turbine were set to go up.
Portable power runs tools on the site.
Later, after the trench to the power
shed had been dug, Randy noticed that
there was no topsoil on the ridge at the
turbine site, but several feet of topsoil
down by the shed. Also, the wild-
flowers and sage on the southeast
sides of the hills in this high desert
area were robust, while there was
stunted vegetation on the ridge at the
turbine site. All these subtle indica-
tions, combined with Charlie Nichols’
experience in this country, pointed to
the likelihood of consistent winds on
the ridge.
Installation Crew
Randy Brooks, who traveled to
Norman, Oklahoma before the
installation to be trained as a Bergey
installer, led the crew. This is first and
foremost why the installation and
grid-intertie went so well. You know
how some people have their ducks in a
Pre-Installation
Preparation
June and Charlie contracted out
with a neighbor to dig the trench and
the holes for the guy wire anchors with
a backhoe. Randy later dug the slots
for the sloping anchor rods by hand to
reduce disturbance of the soil on the
tower side of each anchor hole. After
fighting with the rocky soil, Randy
concluded that he’d have a backhoe do
this next time. The three anchors were
located so that two shared the load of
the prevailing winds on this fixed
tower. As recommended by the
manufacturer, a 50 foot (15 m) guy
radius was used.
It was thought that direct burial
electrical wire would be best to use.
But after doing it, Randy decided that
it was not worth the extra labor to fill
in the rocky sections of the trench with
sand, and then lay the wire and cover
The crane holds the weight while the Bergey Excel is bolted to the tower top.
36
home power 96
/ august & september 2003
wind
intertie
Volunteers included Lance Moore, an electrician from
Whidbey Island who wanted to gain some RE experience;
Ed Kennell, part of the energy program at Washington State
University’s Cooperative Extension, and whose knowledge
and equipment from two and a half decades in the wind
industry were indispensable; and me, another SEI
intern/graduate, there for documentation and experience.
Installation
On Monday, April 29, 2002, the crew and volunteers
headed up into the high desert of Malaga, Washington to the
ranch. After setting up camp, Randy oriented us by showing
Muscling the Bergey’s tail into position.
Mounting the blades using an impact wrench.
row? Well Randy knows what temperature the ducks like
the water, and you can rest assured that the pond will be just
that. He is an asset to the industry!
Rose Woofenden, and her dad Ian, came over from
western Washington to help. Rose was born in a wind and
solar-electric powered house, and Ian works for
Home Power
and coordinates workshops for Solar Energy International
(SEI). Kelly Keilwitz of Whidbey Sun & Wind, also a Bergey
dealer, traveled over the mountains with the Woofendens to
help. Bill Hoffer, an energy efficiency and renewable energy
consultant who often collaborates with Brooks Solar was on
hand as well.
Randy Brooks and the owners were willing to allow the
installation to be a demonstration project. Northwest
Sustainable Energy for Economic Development (NW SEED)
invited a group of individuals to monitor the installation.
The group included a solar equipment distributor in Oregon
interested in getting into the wind industry, a business
development director for a general contractor from central
Washington, and an SEI graduate and Bergey certified
dealer from Spokane, among others. All fees the NW SEED
participants paid were used to offset the cost of the
installation. In return, June had an endless flow of coffee,
snacks, and sandwiches for all.
Overcurrent protection at the tower’s base.
the first cut of a Bergey installation video, and mentioned
updates both to it and the installation manual.
On Tuesday morning, we woke to the loud squawking of
guinea hens. We headed up the wildflower littered hill to
the turbine location. It was a gusty day on the ridge, which
was both encouraging and a bit worrisome. No one wanted
to work in high winds the next day when the crane would
show up.
After the NW SEED folks arrived, Randy had an
orientation and safety briefing, and also explained the
SNAP program. Our first task was to assemble the ten, 10
foot (3 m), 250 pound (113 kg) tower sections. We found it
best to rest the tower sections on pieces of 4 by 4s to keep
dirt out of the holes. The ground was sloped and wavy, so
www.
homepower
.com
37
wind
intertie
tail 70 degrees, taking the turbine out of the wind. The tail
has a shock absorbing system that prevents the tail from
snapping back into position after releasing the winch, to
prevent unnecessary wear and tear on the machine.
Down in the shed, Lance was wiring the inverter and
replacing the #8 (8 mm
2
) ground wire from the service
disconnect to ground rods with #6 (13 mm
2
) to comply with
code. Lance also used wire pulling lubricant to snake the #2
(33 mm
2
) wires from the system disconnect to the inverter.
This stuff is messy, but easy to clean up and worth its weight
in gold. A lot of sweat and many a smashed knuckle has
been saved by this goop.
By the end of the day, the tower was ready and
everything was in place for the crane to come in—
everything except the tail, that is. Charlie’s granddaughter
was painting his cattle brand on it.
Crane Day
Fortunately, the sun was shining and the winds had died
down for the tower raising. Lance finished all the wiring for
the inverter and second disconnect, located down by the
shed. Duncan Crane Service out of Moses Lake showed up
right on time, and everything was ready. The crane was
positioned between two anchors on the uphill, prevailing
wind side of the tower.
Going up.
Ready to raise.
we had to wiggle the sections and use drift pins to get all the
holes to line up to connect the sections.
After assembling the tower and torquing the bolts to 150
foot-pounds each, we ran the transmission wires through
the tower, and tied them to a tower leg with zip ties. As the
wires were run through the tower, the equalizer plates were
being attached to the anchor rods. The equalizer plates help
evenly distribute the load from the guy wires to the anchor
rods. Then the guy wires were laid out from the tower, a pair
running to each anchor rod set at 50 feet and 90 feet (15 and
27 m) on the tower.
After all the wires were run, the junction and disconnect
box was attached at the base of the tower, as was a Delta
LA603 lightning arrestor and the furling winch. Bergey
installed plates at a comfortable height on the bottom tower
section to attach the winch and junction box. The furling
winch allows someone at the base of the tower to move the
Snagged
on the crane.
38
home power 96
/ august & september 2003
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]